Jūkata

Jūkata (Magian:十方, Mahō Ryōiki:じゅうかた) are a sentient humanoid species in Sparkalia that exhibits many diverse physical animalistic characteristics partially based on ancestry and almost exclusively lives within the borders of Kaidokoku which is also the only majority Jūkata country.

Etymology

Jūkata in the Magian means either "the ten directions" or "the ten peoples", the name comes from a legend that when the Jūkata were created they split into ten tribes and spread out over the land in ten directions one for every tribe: North, North East, East, South East, South, South West, West, North west, Up and Down. And as they lived apart they slowly changed to adapt to the environment becoming the ten ethnicities/subspecies.

Ethnicities

Jūkata are divided into 4-5 clades, these clades being: Insectoid, Mammalian, Avian/Reptilian and Amphibian. These are even further broken up into ten different ethnicities or subspecies based on physical characteristics such as height, strength and number of limbs. The ten groups are: Arikata, Fukukata, Gakata, Hadakkata, Hedorokata, Kamakata, Kumokata, Ryūkata, Torikata and Usikata.

Arikata

Arikata (Magian:アリ方) are a subspecies of Jūkata who's phenotypical traits exhibit an ant-like appearance and biology. Arikata also happen to posses the only form of eusociality in all of the Jūkata due to their enhanced manasense which they can use to sense the thoughts of other Arikata nearby in an aproximately 10 meter radius. However, unlike most eusocial intelligent species the Arikata also possess the ability for independent thought and personal thoughts which cannot be mind-read.

Fukukata

WIP

Gakata

Gakata (Magian:ガ方) exhibit moth-like physiology and the ability to fly for short periods of time, they are also largely nocturnal.

Etncities Table

Traits that looks like this: "n/x", Example:(None/two) are showing the existence of vestigial traits that only reappear when entering sacred form.

Ethnicity / Subspecies	Magian name	Clade	Mimicking	Number of total limbs	Number of arms	Number of legs	Number of eyes	Armour?	Horns?	Wings?	Mouth?	Tail?
Arikata	アリ方	Insectoid	Ant	Six	Four	Two	Two	Exoskeleton	Two antennae	None/Two	Mandibles	Abdomen
Fukukata	フク方	Avian	Owl	Four	Two	Two	Two	None	None	Two	Beak	One
Gakata	ガ方	Insectoid	Moth	Six/?	Four/?	Two/?	Two	Exoskeleton	Two antennae	Two	Mandibles	Abdomen
Hadakkata	ハダッ方	Mamalian	Human	Four	Two	Two	Two/Three	Calcified limbs	One-Three	None	Jaw	None
Hedorokata	ヘドロ方	Amphibian	Axolotl	Four	Two	Two	Two	Slime	Six rami	None	Jaw	One
Kamakata	カマ方	Insectoid	Praying mantis	Four/Six	Two	Two/Four	Two	Exoskeleton	Two antennae	None/Two	Mandibles	Abdomen
Kumokata	クモ方	Insectoid	Spider	Six/Eight	Four/Six	Two	Four/eight	Exoskeleton	None	None	Mandibles	Abdomen
Ryūkata	リュウ方	Avian/Reptilian	Dragon	Six	Two	Two	Two	Scaled limbs	Two/Four	None/Two	Jaw	One
Torikata	トリ方	Avian	Bird	Four	Two	Two	Two	None	None	Two	Beak	One
Usikata	ウシ方	Mamalian	Cow	Four/Six	Two	Two/Four	Two	None	Two	None	Jaw	One

Biology

The Jūkata unlike most sentient species in Sparkalia are not comprised of biological material and instead are made up fully out of mana. Because of this the Jūkata do not have any internal organs and do not need to physically consume food, instead they merely absorb the mana within it however they require processed mana made by trees and animals and cannot consume environmental mana.

Manasense

Manasense(Magian:気検出, Mahō Ryōiki:Kikenshutsu) is a an aditional sense that the Jūkata posses and allows them to feel the mana inside other living creatures and objects through their whole body. Theis sense is used for navigating dark environments, stalk prey and communication through a type of body language that was traditionally used by Jūkatan warriors and hunters, but as Magian was slowly adopted it fell out of use and is now only used by the deaf.

Mimicry

The Jūkata exhibit aggressive mimicry which they use to appear as more benign animals from a far distance and to blend in with the environment in order to ambush them. However, the reason as to how the Jūkata managed to diversify into such different phenotypes to the extent of actually mimicking bodyparts of such different species is rather largely debated.

Sacred form

The Jūkata due to their adaptions and evolution retain many vestigial traits within their bodies which through the use of blood magic they can bring out and attain what is referred to as their sacred form. Within their sacred form they are much taller and larger in general and posses bodyparts which they lacked before, and are much stronger. In Jūkatan culture this form is of immense cultural significance and many important rituals require the participant to attain it for the duration of the ritual. However, this form can only be maintained for a limited amount of time as the body will eventually start to slowly consume itself from overheating and lack of nutrition. Maintaining the form through this has been known to cause major psychological and physical damage to the person.